Ted Bundy’s wave of violence spanned at least four years and left dozens of victims, including at least 30 women and girls who were murdered – and many others who fled or survived despite serious injuries.
Although the serial killer has been dead for nearly 40 years,… Confirmed death toll It continues to grow as DNA testing advances. A Utah sheriff confirmed Wednesday that Bundy was responsible for the death of a Utah teen in 1974. The office predicted another cold case “is on the verge of closure” soon thanks to the creation of a complete DNA profile of Bundy, Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Reynolds said.
Bundy is one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history — although others likely had more victims, including Gary Ridgwaywho confessed to killing 49 people; Samuel LittleWhich killed more than 60 people; and Donald Harvey Who pleaded guilty to killing 37 people.
Bundy aroused widespread fascination, in part because many considered him charming and handsome during his 1979 trial.
Here are some things to know about Bundy and his crimes.
It is not known when Bundy first began his attacks, but the deaths associated with him began in Washington state in 1974. He grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and many of his first known violent crimes occurred around Seattle.
An 18-year-old University of Washington student was sleeping in her home near the Seattle campus in January 1974 when someone broke in and attacked her, leaving her with a fractured skull. She survived, but with permanent injuries. Bundy was believed to be responsible for the crime, which fit a pattern he established in later years, in which he would often break into young women’s homes, club and sexually assault them, leaving them to die or dumping their bodies elsewhere.
The next month, another University of Washington student, Linda Ann Healy, disappeared from her home. A small piece of blood was found on her bed, and her remains were found the following year in Mount Taylor, a remote area outside a nearby city. The remains of some of Bundy’s other victims were also found at the same location.
Over the next few months, other women were also kidnapped from Washington and Oregon. In some cases, witnesses saw women talking to a man who was wearing an arm sling.
By October, teenage girls in Utah had also disappeared. The body of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith was found on a hillside in Summit Park, Utah, her head bashed in with a crowbar.
Carol DaRonch, 18, was kidnapped by Bundy when he claimed to be a police officer investigating car burglaries. But she survived by jumping out of his car after he tried to handcuff her. DaRonch’s testimony would later be useful in putting Bundy behind bars.
Bundy continued killing throughout the next year in Utah, Colorado, and Idaho.
Bundy was first arrested in connection with the disappearances in August 1975, when police stopped him and found incriminating items including rope, handcuffs and a ski mask in his car.
He was convicted the following year of kidnapping and assaulting Daronesh. Bundy was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime, and while in prison he was charged in connection with the earlier death of a nursing student.
Brought to Aspen, Colorado, for a hearing in the case in 1977, he escaped custody by climbing out of a second-floor court window. He was arrested about a week later, but escaped again six months later by breaking through the prison roof.
At that time, Bundy fled across the country, eventually making his way to Tallahassee, Florida. On January 15, 1978, he entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University and bludgeoned two women to death with a large branch, seriously wounding two others. He then went to another nearby house, seriously wounding another sleeping woman.
Less than a month later, he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida. Kimberly Leach is believed to be his latest victim: Bundy was arrested when he was pulled over in Pensacola while driving a stolen car.
Bundy’s case, and his confident stance in court, attracted widespread attention during 1979 Chi Omega Murders Trial.
“I don’t know what he has, but he’s great,” one teenage viewer told an AP reporter covering the trial. “He’s impressive. He has a kind of charm.”
Even the judge presiding over the trial said Bundy was a “smart young man” who would have made a good lawyer. But Judge Edward Cowart also recognized Bundy as a horribly violent killer and sentenced him to death for “extremely evil, shocking and despicable” crimes.
Bundy was executed on January 24, 1989 by electric chair in Florida. He made a series of confessions in his final days, including some to crimes that were not previously known to police. Not all of these cases have been confirmed.
New DNA testing has confirmed that more than 50 years ago, Bundy also killed 17-year-old Laura Ann Amy.
Amy disappeared in Utah on Halloween night 1974, and her body was found a month later on the side of a highway. Authorities believe she remained alive for several days after her kidnapping.
Bundy was a long-time suspect in the case, but there was not enough evidence to charge him while he was alive. Fortunately, evidence from the case was carefully preserved, and advances in DNA forensic technology eventually allowed investigators to extract a DNA profile to match Bundy and officially close Amy’s case. ___
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed from Salt Lake City, Utah.